Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Senate for its courtesy, but I do think it is important that we mark what has occurred here just now. The government is denying leave to table its own regulations. It is extraordinary, isn't it? The government is denying leave to table its own regulations. What has occurred here is that Minister Cormann has made regulations, which are now in legal effect, to pull back the safeguards, the changes to financial advice, that the former Labor government put in place, bearing in mind some of the inappropriate and unethical behaviour we saw from financial advisers, which has been well-documented.

The government has amended and lessened the protections that Labor put in place. We disagree with that. But, more importantly, the government sought to avoid this Senate chamber in the way it did that. It did not bring through legislation where there would have had to have been a proper debate. The government said that it did it by way of regulation—so gazetted, agreed by the government and ticked off by His Excellency the Governor-General—and has legal effect now. These regulations will have to be tabled eventually and the Labor Party will be moving to disallow them. The government has refused to table its own regulations and, today, it has denied leave for those to be tabled by another party—that is, the Labor Party.

Interestingly, Senator Abetz, the minister who originally denied leave, did precisely the same thing in June 2009 in relation to directions under the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005. He tabled regulations then and sought to disallow them, but it appears what was good when in opposition is not good in government. The government, despite having notice of this and despite this being of public interest, has refused to grant leave to table their own regulations.(Time expired)

Question agreed to.